How Tattoos Can Help Prevent A Cold

Trending News: Having Multiple Tattoos Can Actually Help To Prevent Colds

Why Is This Important?

Because that unicorn tatt makes you tough after all.

Long Story Short

In totally random “how is this even a thing?” news, research has shown that getting inked can make you more resistant to common infections like the cold. But this only works if you get more than one tattoo.

Long Story

Forget dosing up on Vitamin C — there’s a much more rock ‘n’ roll way to prevent a cold. Dr. Christopher Lynn, anthropology professor at the University of Alabama, has found that people who have multiple tattoos may be more resistant to catching the dreaded sniffles.

As weird as that sounds, further research from Dr Lynn’s fellow University of Alabama colleagues backs up his claims. As reported by ScienceDaily, the researchers collected saliva samples from people visiting tattoo parlors, before and after their procedures.

What they noticed was that levels of immunoglobulin A, an antibody that helps to defend us from common infections, dropped significantly in those subjects who had just received their first tattoo. In contrast, those who already had other tattoos saw less of a fall in their immunoglobulin A levels.

So what does this mean? Dr. Lynn says that getting a tattoo weakens your immune system. “It's easier to get sick. You can catch a cold because your defences are lowered from the stress of getting a tattoo.”

But, much like a vaccine, this also tells your body to fight infections, leading it to become stronger in the long run. "After the stress response, your body returns to an equilibrium," Lynn said. "However, if you continue to stress your body over and over again, instead of returning to the same set point, it adjusts its internal set points and moves higher."

So, the more tattoos you get, the more chances your body has to get stronger. This might seem like a pretty extreme way to ward off a cold, but for anyone who's known the horror of man flu maybe it's not such a bad idea.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

But does the cold preventing benefit of tattoos outweigh their health risks?

Disrupt Your Feed

On this logic, Lil Wayne must be invincible.

Drop This Fact

According to one study, the more tattoos someone has, the worse their temper.